I S A I A H.

CHAP. X.

The prophet, in this chapter, is dealing, I. With
the proud oppressors of his people at home, that abused their
power, to pervert justice, whom he would reckon with for their
tyranny, ver. 1-4. II.
With a threatening invader of his people from abroad, Sennacherib
king of Assyria, concerning whom observe, 1. The commission given
him to invade Judah, ver. 5,
6. 2. His pride and insolence in the execution of that
commission, ver. 7-11, 13,
14. 3. A rebuke given to his haughtiness, and a
threatening of his fall and ruin, when he had served the purposes
for which God raised him up, ver. 12, 15-19. 4. A promise of grace
to the people of God, to enable them to bear up under the
affliction, and to get good by it, ver. 20-23. 5. Great encouragement given
to them not to fear this threatening storm, but to hope that,
though for the present all the country was put into a great
consternation by it, yet it would end well, in the destruction of
this formidable enemy, ver.
24-34. And this is intended to quiet the minds of good
people in reference to all the threatening efforts of the wrath of
the church's enemies. If God be for us, who can be against us? None
to do us any harm.

The Condemnation of
Oppressors. (b. c. 740.)

1 Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away
the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their
prey, and that they may rob the fatherless! 3 And
what will ye do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation
which shall come from far? to whom will ye flee for help?
and where will ye leave your glory? 4 Without me they shall
bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is
stretched out still.

Whether they were the princes and judges of
Israel of Judah, or both, that the prophet denounced this woe
against, is not certain: if those of Israel, these verses are to be
joined with the close of the foregoing chapter, which is probable
enough, because the burden of that prophecy (for all this his
anger is not turned away) is repeated here (v. 4); if those of Judah, they then
show what was the particular design with which God brought the
Assyrian army upon them—to punish their magistrates for
mal-administration, which they could not legally be called to
account for. To them he speaks woes before he speaks comfort to
God's own people. Here is,

I. The indictment drawn up against these
oppressors, v. 1,
2. They are charged, 1. With making wicked laws and
edicts: They decree unrighteous decrees, contrary to natural
equity and the law of God: and what mischief they prescribe
those under them write it, enrol it, and put it into the
formality of a law. "Woe to the superior powers that devise and
decree these decrees! they are not too high to be under the divine
check. And woe to the inferior officers that draw them up, and
enter them upon record—the writers that write the
grievousness, they are not too mean to be within the divine
cognizance. Principal and accessaries shall fall under the same
woe." Note, It is bad to do hurt, but it is worse to do it with
design and deliberation, to do wrong to many, and to involve many
in the guilt of doing wrong. 2. With perverting justice in the
execution of the laws that were made. No people had statutes and
judgments so righteous as they had, and yet corrupt judges found
ways to turn aside the needy from judgment, to hinder them
from coming at their right and recovering what was their due,
because they were needy and poor, and such as they could get
nothing by nor expect any bribes from. 3. With enriching themselves
by oppressing those that lay at their mercy, whom they ought to
have protected. They make widows' houses and estates their prey,
and they rob the fatherless of the little that is left them,
because they have no friend to appear for them. Not to relieve them
if they had wanted, not to right them if they were wronged, would
have been crime enough in men that had wealth and power; but to rob
them because on the side of the oppressors there was power, and the
oppressed had no comforter (Eccl. iv.
1), was such apiece of barbarity as one would think none
could ever be guilty of that had either the nature of a man or the
name of an Israelite.

II. A challenge given them with all their
pride and power to outface the judgments of God (v. 3): "What will you do? To whom
will you flee? You can trample upon the widows and fatherless;
but what will you do when God riseth up?" Job xxxi. 14. Great men, who tyrannise over
the poor, think they shall never be called to account for their
tyranny, shall never hear of it again, or fare the worse for it;
but shall not God visit for these things? Jer. v. 29. Will there not come a desolation
upon those that have made others desolate? Perhaps it may come
from far, and therefore may be long in coming; but it will come
at last (reprieves are not pardons), and coming from far, from a
quarter whence it was least expected, it will be the greater
surprise and the more terrible. What will then become of these
unrighteous judges? Now they see their help in the gate
(Job xxxi. 21); but to
whom will they then flee for help? Note, 1. There is a day of
visitation coming, a day of enquiry and discovery, a searching day,
which will bring to light, to a true light, every man, and every
man's work. 2. The day of visitation will be a day of desolation to
all wicked people, when all their comforts and hopes will be lost
and gone, and buried in ruin, and themselves left desolate. 3.
Impenitent sinners will be utterly at a loss, and will not know what
to do in the day of visitation and desolation. They cannot fly and
hide themselves, cannot fight it out and defend themselves; they
have no refuge in which either to shelter themselves from the
present evil (to whom will you flee for help?) or to secure
to themselves better times hereafter: "Where will you leave your
glory, to find it again when the storm is over?" The wealth
they had got was their glory, and they had no place of safety in
which to deposit that, but they should certainly see it flee away.
If our souls be our glory, as they ought to be, and we make them
our chief care, we know where to leave them, and into whose hands
to commit them, even those of a faithful Creator. 4. It concerns us
all seriously to consider what we shall do in the day of
visitation, in a day of affliction, in the day of death and
judgment, and to provide that we may do well.

III. Sentence passed upon them, by which
they are doomed, some to imprisonment and captivity (they shall
bow down among the prisoners, or under them—those that
were most highly elevated in sin shall be most heavily loaded and
most deeply sunk in trouble), others to death: they shall fall
first, and so shall fall under the rest of the slain. Those that
had trampled upon the widows and fatherless shall themselves be
trodden down, v. 4.
"This it will come to," says God, "without me, that is,
because you have deserted me and driven me away from you." Nothing
but utter ruin can be expected by those that live without God in
the world, that cast him behind their back, and so cast themselves
out of his protection.

And yet, for all this, his anger is not
turned away, which intimates not only that God will proceed in
his controversy with them, but that they shall be in a continual
dread of it; they shall, to their unspeakable terror, see his hand
still stretched out against them, and there shall remain nothing
but a fearful looking for of judgment.

The Pride of the King of Assyria;
Sennacherib's Pride Rebuked; Destruction of the King of
Assyria. (b.
c. 740.)

5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the
staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him
against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath
will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7
Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but
it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few.
8 For he saith, Are not my princes altogether kings?
9 Is not Calno as Carchemish? is not Hamath as
Arpad? is not Samaria as Damascus? 10 As my hand hath
found the kingdoms of the idols, and whose graven images did excel
them of Jerusalem and of Samaria; 11 Shall I not, as I have
done unto Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the
Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on
Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king
of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 13 For he
saith, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my
wisdom; for I am prudent: and I have removed the bounds of the
people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the
inhabitants like a valiant man: 14 And my hand hath
found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathereth eggs
that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was
none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped. 15
Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith?
or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it?
as if the rod should shake itself against them that lift it
up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it
were no wood. 16 Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of
hosts, send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he
shall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire. 17 And
the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a
flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in
one day; 18 And shall consume the glory of his forest, and
of his fruitful field, both soul and body: and they shall be as
when a standard-bearer fainteth. 19 And the rest of the
trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.

The destruction of the kingdom of Israel by
Shalmaneser king of Assyria was foretold in the foregoing chapter,
and it had its accomplishment in the sixth year of Hezekiah,
2 Kings xviii. 10. It was
total and final, head and tail were all cut off. Now the correction
of the kingdom of Judah by Sennacherib king of Assyria is foretold
in this chapter; and this prediction was fulfilled in the
fourteenth year of Hezekiah, when that potent prince, encouraged by
the successes of his predecessor against the ten tribes, came up
against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them, and laid
siege to Jerusalem (2 Kings
xviii. 13, 17), in consequence of which we may well
suppose Hezekiah and his kingdom were greatly alarmed, though there
was a good work of reformation lately begun among them: but it
ended well, in the confusion of the Assyrians and the great
encouragement of Hezekiah and his people in their return to God.
Now let us see here,

I. How God, in his sovereignty, deputed the
king of Assyria to be his servant, and made use of him as a mere
tool to serve his own purposes with (v. 5, 6): "O Assyrian! know
this, that thou art the rod of my anger; and I will send
thee to be a scourge to the people of my wrath." Observe
here, 1. How bad the character of the Jews was, though they
appeared very good. They were a hypocritical nation, that
made a profession of religion, and at this time particularly of
reformation, but were not truly religious, not truly reformed, not
so good as they pretended to be now that Hezekiah had brought
goodness into fashion. When rulers are pious, and so religion is in
reputation, it is common for nations to be hypocritical. They are
a profane nation; so some read it. Hezekiah had in a great
measure cured them of their idolatry, and now they ran into
profaneness; nay, hypocrisy is profaneness: none profane the name
of God so much as those who are called by that name and call upon
it, and yet live in sin. Being a profane hypocritical nation, they
are the people of God's wrath; they lie under his wrath, and are
likely to be consumed by it. Note, Hypocritical nations are the
people of God's wrath: nothing is more offensive to God than
dissimulation in religion. See what a change sin made: those that
had been God's chosen and hallowed people, above all people, had
now become the people of his wrath. See Amos iii. 2. 2. How mean the character of the
Assyrian was, though he appeared very great. He was but the rod
of God's anger, an instrument God was pleased to make use of
for the chastening of his people, that, being thus chastened of
the Lord, they might not be condemned with the world. Note, The
tyrants of the world are but the tools of Providence. Men are God's
hand, his sword sometimes, to kill and slay (Ps. xvii. 13, 14), at other times his rod
to correct. The staff in their hand, wherewith they smite
his people, is his indignation; it is his wrath that puts
the staff into their hand and enables them to deal blows at
pleasure among such as thought themselves a match for them.
Sometimes God makes an idolatrous nation, that serves him not at
all, a scourge to a hypocritical nation, that serves him not in
sincerity and truth. The Assyrian is called the rod of God's
anger because he is employed by him. (1.) From him his power is
derived: I will send him; I will give him a charge. Note,
All the power that wicked men have, though they often use it
against God, they always receive from him. Pilate could have no
power against Christ unless it were given him from above,John xix. 11. (2.) By him
the exercise of that power is directed. The Assyrian is to take
the spoil and to take the prey, not to shed any blood. We read
not of any slain, but he is to plunder the country, rifle the
houses, drive away the cattle, strip the people of all their wealth
and ornaments, and tread them down like the mire of the
streets. When God's professing people wallow in the mire of sin
it is just with God to suffer their enemies to tread upon them like
mire. But why must the Assyrian prevail thus against them? Not that
they might be ruined, but that they might be thoroughly
reformed.

II. See how the king of Assyria, in his
pride, magnified himself as his own master, and pretended to be
absolute and above all control, to act purely according to his own
will and for his own honour. God ordained him for judgment,
even the mighty God established him for correction
(Hab. i. 12), to be an
instrument of bringing his people to repentance, howbeit he
means not so, nor does his heart think so, v. 7.

1. He does not think that he is either
God's servant or Israel's friend, either that he can do no
more than God will let him or that he shall do no more than
God will make to work for the good of his people. God designs to
correct his people for, and so to cure them of, their hypocrisy,
and bring them nearer to himself; but was that Sennacherib's
design? No, it was the furthest thing from his thoughts—he
means not so. Note, (1.) The wise God often makes even the
sinful passions and projects of men subservient to his own great
and holy purposes. (2.) When God makes use of men as instruments in
his hand to do his work it is very common for him to mean
one thing and them to mean another, nay, for them to mean
quite the contrary to what he intends. What Joseph's brethren
designed for hurt God overruled for good, Gen. l. 20. See Mic. iv. 11, 12. Men have their ends and
God has his, but we are sure the counsel of the Lord shall
stand. But what is it the proud Assyrian aims at? The heart of
kings is unsearchable, but God knew what was in his heart.

2. He designs nothing but to destroy and
to cut off nations not a few, and to make himself master of
them. [1.] He designs to gratify his own cruelty; nothing will
serve but to destroy and cut off. He hopes to regale himself with
blood and slaughter; that of particular persons will not suffice,
he must cut off nations. It is below him to deal by retail; he
traffics in murders by wholesale. Nations, and those not a few,
must have but one neck, which he will have the pleasure of cutting
off. [2.] He designs to gratify his own covetousness and ambition,
to set up for a universal monarch, and to gather unto him all
nations, Hab. ii. 5. An
insatiable desire of wealth and dominion is that which carries him
on in this undertaking.

3. The prophet here brings him in vaunting,
and hectoring; and by his general's letter to Hezekiah, written in
his name, vainglory and arrogance seem to have entered very far
into the spirit and genius of the man. His haughtiness and
presumption are here described very largely, and his very language
copied out, partly to represent him as ridiculous and partly to
assure the people of God that he would be brought down; for that
maxim generally holds true, that pride goes before destruction. It
also intimates that God takes notice, and keeps an account, of all
men's proud and haughty words, with which they set heaven and earth
at defiance. Those that speak great swelling words of vanity
shall hear of them again.

(1.) He boasts of the great things he had
done to other nations. [1.] He had made their kings his courtiers
(v. 8): "My
princes are altogether kings. Those that are now my princes are
such as have been kings." Or he means that he had raised his throng
to such a degree that his servants, and those that were in command
under him, were as great, and lived in as much pomp, as the kings
of other countries. Or those that were absolute princes in their
own dominions held their crowns under him, and did him homage. This
was a vainglorious boast; but how great is our God whom we serve,
who is indeed King of kings, and whose subjects are made to him
kings! Rev. i. 6. [2.] He had
made himself master of their cities. He names several (v. 9) that were all alike
reduced by him. Calno soon yielded as Carchemish did,
Hamath could not hold out any more than Arpad, and
Samaria had become his as well as Damascus. To
support his boasts he is obliged to bring the victories of his
predecessor into the account; for it was he that conquered Samaria,
not Sennacherib. [3.] He had been too hard for their idols, their
tutelar gods, had found out the kingdoms of the idols and
found out ways to make them his own, v. 10. Their kingdoms took
denomination from the idols they worshipped; the Moabites are
called the people of Chemosh (Jer. xlviii. 46), because they imagined
their gods were their patrons and protectors; and therefore
Sennacherib vainly imagined that every conquest of a kingdom was
the conquest of a god. [4.] He had enlarged his own dominions, and
removed the bounds of the people (v. 13), enclosing many large
territories within the limits of his own kingdom and shifting a
great way further the ancient land-marks which his fathers had set;
he could not bear to be hemmed in so closely, but must have more
room to thrive. By his removing the border of the people Mr.
White understands his arbitrarily transplanting colonies from place
to place, which was the constant practice of the Assyrians in all
their conquests; and this is a probable interpretation. [5.] He had
enriched himself with their wealth, and brought it into his own
exchequer: I have robbed their treasures. In this he said
truly, Great conquerors are often no better than great robbers.
[6.] He had mastered all the opposition he met with: "I have put
down the inhabitants as a valiant man. Those that sat high, and
thought they say firmly, I have humbled and made to come down."

(2.) He boasts of the manner in which he
had done them. [1.] That he had done all this by his own policy and
power (v. 13):
"By the strength of my hand, for I am valiant; and by my
wisdom, for I am prudent;" not by the permission of Providence
and the blessing of God. He knows not that it is God that makes him
what he is, and puts the staff into his hand, but sacrifices to
his own net, Hab. i.
16. "This wealth is all gotten by my might and the
power of my hand," Deut. viii.
17. Downright atheism and profaneness, as well as pride
and vanity, are at the bottom of men's attributing their prosperity
and success thus to themselves and their own conduct, and raising
their own character upon it. [2.] That he had done all this with a
great deal of ease, and had made but a sport and diversion of it,
as if he had been taking birds' nests (v. 14): my hand has found as a
nest the riches of the people; and when he had found them there
was no more difficulty in taking them than in rifling a nest, nor
any more reluctance or regret within his own breast in destroying
families and cities than in destroying crows'-nests; killing
children was no more to him than killing birds. "As one gathers
the eggs that are left in the nest by the dam, so easily
have I gathered all the earth." Like Alexander, he thought
he had conquered the world; and whatever prey he seized there was
none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped, as
birds do when their nests are rifled. They durst not make any
opposition, no, nor any complaint; such awe did they stand in of
this mighty conqueror. They were so weak that they knew it was to
no purpose to resist, and he was so arbitrary that they knew it was
to no purpose to complain. Strange that ever men who were made to
do good should take a pride and a pleasure in doing wrong, and
doing mischief to all about them without control, and should reckon
that their glory which is their shame! But their day will
come to fall who thus make themselves the terror of thy
mighty, and much more of the feeble, in the land of the
living.

(3.) He threatens what he will do to
Jerusalem, which he was now about to lay siege to, v. 10, 11. He would master
Jerusalem and her idols, as he had subdued other places and their
idols, particularly Samaria. [1.] He blasphemously calls the God of
Israel an idol, and sets him on a level with the false gods
of other nations, as if none were the true God but Mithras, the
sun, whom he worshipped. See how ignorant he was, and then we shall
the less wonder that he was so proud. [2.] He prefers the graven
images of other countries before those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
when he might have known that the worshippers of the God of Israel
were expressly forbidden to make any graven images, and if any did
it must be by stealth, and therefore they could not be so rich and
pompous as those of other nations. If he means the ark and the
mercy-seat, he speaks like himself, very foolishly, and as one that
judged by the sight of the eye, and might therefore be easily
deceived in matters of spiritual concern. Those who make external
pomp and splendour a mark of the true church go by the same rule.
[3.] Because he had conquered Samaria, he concluded Jerusalem would
fall of course: "Shall not I do so to Jerusalem? can I not
as easily, and may I not as justly?" But it did not follow; for
Jerusalem adhered to her God, whereas Samaria had forsaken him.

III. See how God, in his justice, rebukes
his pride and reads his doom. We have heard what the great king,
the king of Assyria, says, and how big he talks. Let us now hear
what the great God has to say by his servant the prophet, and we
shall find that, wherein he deals proudly, God is above him.

1. He shows the vanity of his insolent and
audacious boasts (v.
15): Shall the axe boast itself against him that hews
therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that draws
it? So absurd are the boasts of this proud man. "O what a dust
do I make!" said the fly upon the cart-wheel in the fable. "What
destruction do I make among the trees!" says the axe. Two ways the
axe may be said to boast itself against him that hews with
it:—(1.) By way of resistance and opposition. Sennacherib
blasphemed God, insulted him, threatened to serve him as he had
served the gods of the nations; now this was as if the axe should
fly in the face of him that hews with it. The tool striving with
the workman is no less absurd than the clay striving with the
potter; and as it is a thing not to be justified that men should
fight against God with the wit, and wealth, and power, which he
gives them, so it is a thing not to be suffered. But if men will be
thus proud and daring, and bid defiances to all that is just and
sacred, let them expect that God will reckon with them; the more
insolent they are the surer and sorer will their ruin be. (2.) By
way of rivalship and competition. Shall the axe take to itself the
praise of the work it is employed in? So senseless, so absurd was
it for Sennacherib to say, By the strength of my hand I have
done it, and by my wisdom, v. 13. It is as if the rod, when it
is shaken, should boast that it guides the hand which shakes it;
whereas, when the staff is lifted up, is it not wood still?
so the last clause may be read. If it be an ensign of authority (as
the nobles of the people carried staves, Num. xxi. 18), if it be an instrument of
service, either to support a weak man or to correct a bad man,
still it is wood, and can do nothing but as it is directed by him
that uses it. The psalmist prays that God would make the nations to
know that they were but men (Ps.
ix. 20), the staff to know that it is but wood.

2. He foretels his fall and ruin.

(1.) That when God had done his work by him
he would then do his work upon him, v. 12. For the comfort of the people
of God in reference to Sennacherib's invasion, though it was a
dismal time with them, let them know, [1.] That God designed to do
good to Zion and Jerusalem by this providence. There is a work to
be done upon them, which God intends, and which he will perform.
Note, When God lets loose the enemies of his church and people, and
suffers them for a time to prevail, it is in order to the
performing of some great good work upon them; and, when that is
done, then, and not till then, he will work deliverance for them.
When God brings his people into trouble it is to try them
(Dan. xi. 35), to bring sin
to their remembrance and humble them for it, and to awaken them to
a sense of their duty, to teach them to pray and to love and help
one another; and this must be the fruit, even the taking away of
sin, ch. xxvii.
9. When these points are, in some measure, gained by the
affliction, it shall be removed, in mercy (Lev. xxvi. 41, 42), otherwise not; for, as
the word, so the rod shall accomplish that for which God sends
it. [2.] That when God had wrought this work of grace for his
people he would work a work of wrath and vengeance upon their
invaders: I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king
of Assyria. His big words are here said to come from his stout
heart, and they are the fruit of it; for out of the abundance of
the heart the mouth speaks. Notice is taken too of the glory
of his high looks, for a proud look is the indication of a
proud spirit. The enemies of the church are commonly very high and
haughty; but, sooner or later, God will reckon for their
haughtiness. He glories in it as an incontestable proof of his
power and sovereignty that he looks upon proud men and abases
them, Job xl. 11,
&c.

(2.) That, how threatening soever this
attempt was upon Zion and Jerusalem, it should certainly be
baffled, and broken, and come to nothing, and he should not be able
to bring to pass his enterprise, v. 16, 19. Observe,

[1.] Who it is that undertakes his
destruction, and will be the author of it; not Hezekiah, or his
princes, or the militia of Judah and Jerusalem (what can they do
against such a potent force?), but God himself will do it, as
the Lord of hosts, and as the light of Israel. First,
We are sure he can do it, for he is the Lord of hosts, of
all the hosts of heaven and earth. All the creatures are at his
command; he makes what use he pleases on them. He is the Lord of
the hosts both of Judah and of Assyria, and can give the victory to
which he pleases. Let us not fear the hosts of any enemy if we have
the Lord of hosts for us. Secondly, We have reason to hope
he will do it, for he is the light of Israel, and his Holy
One. God is light; in him are perfect brightness, purity, and
happiness. He is light, for he is the Holy One; his holiness is his
glory. He is Israel's light, to direct and counsel his people, to
favour and countenance them, and so to gladden and comfort them in
the worst of times. He is their Holy One, for he is in covenant
with them; his holiness is engaged and employed for them. God's
holiness is the saints' comfort; they give thanks at the
remembrance of it, and with a great deal of pleasure call him
their Holy One, Hab. i.
12.

[2.] How this destruction is represented.
It shall be, First, As a consumption of the body by a
disease: The Lord shall send leanness among his fatnesses,
or his fat ones. His numerous army, that was like a body
covered with fatness, shall be diminished, and waste away, and
become like a skeleton. Secondly, As a consumption of
buildings, or trees and bushes, by fire: Under his glory,
that very thing which he glories in, he will kindle a burning,
as the burning of a fire, which shall lay his army in ruins as
suddenly as a raging fire lays a stately house in ashes. Some make
it an allusion to the fire kindled under the sacrifices; for proud
sinners fall as sacrifices to divine justice. Observe, 1. How this
fire shall be kindled, v.
17. The same God that is a rejoicing light to those that
serve him faithfully will be a consuming fire to those that trifle
with him or rebel against him. The light of Israel shall be for
a fire to the Assyrians, as the same pillar of cloud was a
light to the Israelites and a terror to the Egyptians in the Red
Sea. What can oppose, what can extinguish, such a fire? 2. What
desolation it shall make: it shall burn and devour its thorns
and briers, his officers and soldiers, which are of little
worth, and vexations to God's Israel, as thorns and briers, whose
end is to be burned, and which are easily and quickly consumed by a
devouring fire. "Who would set the briers and thorns against me
in battle? They would be so far from stopping the fire that
they would inflame it. I would go through them and burn them
together (ch. xxvii.
4); they shall be devoured in one day, all cut off in an
instant." When they cried not only Peace and safety, but Victory
and triumph, then sudden destruction came; it came surprisingly,
and was completed in a little time. "Even the glory of his
forest (v. 18),
the choice troops of his army, the veterans, the troops of the
household, the bravest regiments he had, that he was most proud of
and depended most upon, that he valued as men do their timber-trees
(the glory of their forest) or their fruit-trees (the glory of the
Carmel), shall be put as briers and thorns before the fire; they
shall be consumed both soul and body, entirely consumed, not only a
limb burned, but life taken away." Note, God is able to destroy
both soul and body, and therefore we should fear him more than man,
who can but kill the body. Great armies before him are but as great
woods, which he can fell or fire when he pleases.

[3.] What would be the effect of this great
slaughter. The prophet tells us, First, That the army would
hereby be reduced to a very small number: The rest of the trees
of his forest shall be few; very few shall escape the sword of
the destroying angel, so few that there needs no artist, no
muster-master or secretary of war, to take an account of them, for
even a child may soon reckon the numbers of them, and
write the names of them. Secondly, That those few who
remained should be quite dispirited: They shall be as when a
standard-bearer fainteth. When he either falls or flees, and
his colours are taken by the enemy, this discourages the whole
army, and puts them all into confusion. Upon the whole matter we
must say, Who is able to stand before this great and holy Lord
God?

Encouragement to Israel. (b. c. 740.)

20 And it shall come to pass in that day,
that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the
house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them;
but shall stay upon the Lord, the
Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 The remnant shall return,
even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God. 22
For though thy people Israel be as the sand of the sea, yet
a remnant of them shall return: the consumption decreed shall
overflow with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts shall make a consumption, even
determined, in the midst of all the land.

The prophet had said (v. 12) that the Lord would perform
his whole work upon Mount Zion and upon Jerusalem, by
Sennacherib's invading the land. Now here we are told what that
work should be, a twofold work:—

I. The conversion of some, to whom this
providence should be sanctified and yield the peaceable fruit of
righteousness, though for the present it was not joyous, but
grievous; these are but a remnant (v. 22), the remnant of Israel
(v. 20), the
remnant of Jacob (v.
21), but a very few in comparison with the vast numbers
of the people of Israel, who were as the sand of the sea. Note,
Converting work is wrought but on a remnant, who are distinguished
from the rest and set apart for God. When we see how populous
Israel is, how numerous the members of the visible church are, as
the sand of the sea, and yet consider that of these a remnant only
shall be saved, that of the many that are called there are but few
chosen, we shall surely strive to enter in at the strait
gate and fear lest we seem to come short. This remnant
of Israel are said to be such as had escaped of the house of
Jacob, such as escaped the corruptions of the house of Jacob,
and kept their integrity in times of common apostasy; and that was
a fair escape. And therefore they escape the desolations of that
house, and shall be preserved in safety in times of common
calamity; and that also will be a fair and narrow escape. Their
lives shall be given them for a prey, Jer. xlv. 5. The righteous scarcely are
saved. Now, 1. This remnant shall come off from all confidence
in an arm of flesh, this providence shall cure them of that: "They
shall no more again stay upon him that smote them, shall
never depend upon the Assyrians, as they have done, for help
against their other enemies, finding that they are themselves their
worst enemies." Ictus piscator sapit—sufferings teach
caution. "They have now learned by dear-bought experience the
folly of leaning upon that staff as a stay to them which may
perhaps prove a staff to beat them." It is part of the covenant of
a returning people (Hos. xiv.
3), Assyria shall not save us. Note, By our
afflictions we may learn not to make creatures our confidence. 2.
They shall come home to God, to the mighty God (one of the names
given to the Messiah, ch. ix.
6), to the Holy One of Israel: "The remnant shall
return (that was signified by the name of the prophet's son,
Shear-jashub, ch. vii.
3), even the remnant of Jacob. They shall return,
after the raising of the siege of Jerusalem, not only to the quiet
possession of their houses and lands, but to God and to their duty;
they shall repent, and pray, and seek his face, and reform their
lives." The remnant that escape are a returning remnant: they shall
return to God, and shall stay upon him. Note, Those only may with
comfort stay upon God that return to him; then may we have a humble
confidence in God when we make conscience of our duty to him. They
shall stay upon the Holy One of Israel, in truth, and not in
pretence and profession only. This promise of the conversion and
salvation of a remnant of Israel is applied by the apostle
(Rom. ix. 27) to the remnant
of the Jews which at the first preaching of the gospel received and
entertained it, and sufficiently proves that it was no new thing
for God to abandon to ruin a great many of the seed of Abraham in
full force and virtue; for so it was now. The number of the
children of Israel was as the sand of the sea (according to
the promise, Gen. xxii.
17), and yet only a remnant shall be saved.

II. The consumption of others: The Lord
God of hosts shall make a consumption, v. 23. This is not meant (as that
v. 18) of the
consumption of the Assyrian army, but of the consumption of the
estates and families of many of the Jews by the Assyrian army. This
is taken notice of to magnify the power and goodness of God in the
escape of the distinguished remnant, and to let us know what shall
become of those that will not return to God; they shall be wasted
away by this consumption, this general decay in the midst of the
land. Observe, 1. It is a consumption of God's own making; he
is the author of it. The Lord God of hosts, whom none can resist,
shall make this consumption. 2. It is decreed. It is not the
product of a sudden resolve, but was before ordained. It is
determined, not only that there shall be such a consumption,
but it is cut out (so the word is); it is particularly
appointed how far it shall extend and how long it shall continue,
who shall be consumed by it and who not. 3. It is an overflowing
consumption, that shall overspread the land, and, like a mighty
torrent or inundation, bear down all before it. 4. Though it
overflows, it is not at random, but in righteousness, which
signifies both wisdom and equity. God will justly bring this
consumption upon a provoking people, but he will wisely and
graciously set bounds to it. Hitherto it shall come, and no
further.

Encouragement to Israel. (b. c. 740.)

24 Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, O my people that dwellest in Zion,
be not afraid of the Assyrian: he shall smite thee with a rod, and
shall lift up his staff against thee, after the manner of Egypt.
25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation shall
cease, and mine anger in their destruction. 26 And the Lord of hosts shall stir up a scourge for
him according to the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb: and
as his rod was upon the sea, so shall he lift it up
after the manner of Egypt. 27 And it shall come to pass in
that day, that his burden shall be taken away from off thy
shoulder, and his yoke from off thy neck, and the yoke shall be
destroyed because of the anointing. 28 He is come to Aiath,
he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages:
29 They are gone over the passage: they have taken up their
lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul is fled. 30
Lift up thy voice, O daughter of Gallim: cause it to be heard unto
Laish, O poor Anathoth. 31 Madmenah is removed; the
inhabitants of Gebim gather themselves to flee. 32 As yet
shall he remain at Nob that day: he shall shake his hand
against the mount of the daughter of Zion, the hill of
Jerusalem. 33 Behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror:
and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the
haughty shall be humbled. 34 And he shall cut down the
thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a
mighty one.

The prophet, in his preaching,
distinguishes between the precious and the vile; for God in his
providence, even in the same providence, does so. He speaks terror,
in Sennacherib's invasion, to the hypocrites, who were the
people of God's wrath, v. 6. But here he speaks comfort to
the sincere, who were the people of God's love. The judgment was
sent for the sake of the former; the deliverance was wrought for
the sake of the latter. Here we have,

I. An exhortation to God's people not to be
frightened at this threatening calamity, nor to be put into any
confusion or consternation by it. Let the sinners in Zion be
afraid (ch. xxxiii.
14): but O my people, that dwellest in Zion, be not
afraid of the Assyrian, v.
24. Note, It is against the mind and will of God that
his people, whatever may happen, should give way to that fear which
has torment and amazement. Those that dwell in Zion, where God
dwells and where his people attend him, and are employed in his
service, that are under the protection of the bulwarks that are
round about Zion (Ps. xlviii.
13), need not be afraid of any enemy. Let their souls
dwell at ease in God.

II. Considerations offered for the
silencing of their fear.

1. The Assyrian shall do nothing against
them but what God has appointed and determined. They are here told
before hand what he shall do, that it may be no surprise to them:
"He shall smite thee by the divine permission, but it shall
be only with a rod to correct thee, not with a sword to
wound and kill; nay, he shall but lift up his staff against
thee, threaten thee, and frighten thee, and shake the rod at
thee, after the manner of Egypt, as the Egyptians shook
their staff against your fathers at the Red Sea, when they said,
We will pursue, we will overtake (Exod. xv. 9), but could not reach to do them
any hurt." Note, We should not be frightened at those enemies that
can do no more than frighten us.

2. The storm shall soon blow over
(v. 25): Yet a
very little while—a little, little while (so the word is),
and the indignation shall cease, even my anger, which is
the staff in their hand (v. 5), so that when that ceases they
are disarmed and disabled to do any further mischief. Note, God's
anger against his people is but for a moment (Ps. xxx. 5), and when that ceases, and is
turned away from us, we need not fear the fury of any man, for it
is impotent passion.

3. The enemy that threatens them shall
himself be reckoned with. God's anger against his people shall
cease in the destruction of their enemies; when he turns away
his wrath from Israel he shall turn it against the Assyrian; and
the rod with which he corrected his people shall not only be laid
aside, but thrown into the fire. He lifted up his staff
against Zion, but God shall stir up a scourge for him
(v. 26); he is a
terror to God's people, but God will be a terror to him. The
destroying angel shall be this scourge, which he can neither flee
from nor contend with. The prophet, for the encouragement of God's
people, quotes precedents, and puts them in mind of what God had
done formerly against the enemies of his church, who were very
strong and formidable, but were brought to ruin. The destruction of
the Assyrian shall be, (1.) According to the slaughter of
Midian (which was effected by an invisible power, but effected
suddenly, and it was a total rout); and as, at the rock of
Oreb, one of the princes of Midian, after the battle, was
slain, so shall Sennacherib be in the temple of his god Nisroch,
after the defeat of his forces, when he thinks the bitterness of
death is past. Compare with this Ps.
lxxxiii. 11, Make their nobles like Oreb and like
Zeeb; and see how God's promises and his people's prayers
agree. (2.) As his rod was upon the sea, the Red Sea, as
Moses' rod was upon that, to divide it first for the escape of
Israel and then to close it again for the destruction of their
pursuers, so shall his rod now be lifted up, after the manner of
Egypt, for the deliverance of Jerusalem and the destruction of
the Assyrian. Note, It is good to observe a resemblance between
God's latter and former appearances for his people, and against his
and their enemies.

4. They shall be wholly delivered from the
power of the Assyrian, and from the fear of it, v. 27. "They shall not only be eased
of the Assyrian army, which is now quartered upon them and which is
a grievous yoke and burden to them, but they shall no more pay that
tribute to the king of Assyria which before this invasion he
exacted from them (2 Kings xviii.
14), shall be no longer at his service, nor lie at his
mercy, as they have done; nor shall he ever again put the country
under contribution." Some think it looks further, to the
deliverance of the Jews out of their captivity in Babylon; and
further yet, to the redemption of believers from the tyranny of sin
and Satan. The yoke shall not only be taken away, but it shall
be destroyed. The enemy shall no more recover his strength, to
do the mischief he has done; and this because of the
anointing, for their sakes who were partakers of the anointing.
(1.) For Hezekiah's sake, who was the anointed of the Lord, who had
been an active reformer, and was dear to God. (2.) For David's
sake. This is particularly given as the reason why God would defend
Jerusalem from Sennacherib (ch. xxxvii. 35), For my own sake,
and for my servant David's sake. (3.) For his people Israel's
sake, the good people among them that had received the unction of
divine grace. (4.) For the sake of the Messiah, the Anointed of
God, whom God had an eye to in all the deliverances of the
Old-Testament church, and hath still an eye to in all the favours
he shows to his people. It is for his sake that the yoke is broken,
and that we are made free indeed.

III. A description both of the terror of
the enemy and the terror with which many were struck by it, and the
folly of both exposed, v.
28, to the end. Here observe,

1. How formidable the Assyrians were and
how daring and threatening they affected to appear. Here is a
particular description of the march of Sennacherib, what course he
steered, what swift advances he made: He has come to Aiath,
&c. "This and the other place he has made himself master of,
and has met with no opposition." At Michmash he has laid up his
carriages, as if he had no further occasion for his heavy
artillery, so easily was every place he came to reduced; or the
store-cities of Judah, which were fortified for that purpose, had
now become his magazines. Some remarkable pass, and an important
one, he had taken: They have gone over the passage.

2. How cowardly the men of Judah were, the
degenerate seed of that lion's whelp. They were afraid; they
fled upon the first alarm, and did not offer to make any
head against the enemy. Their apostasy from God had dispirited
them, so that one chased a thousand of them. Instead of a valiant
shout, to animate one another, nothing was heard by lamentation, to
discourage and weaken one another. And poor Anathoth, a
priests' city, that should have been a pattern of courage, shrieks
louder than any, v.
30. With respect to those that gathered
themselves together, it was not to fight, but to flee by
consent, v. 31.
This is designed either, (1.) To show how fast the news of the
enemy's progress flew through the kingdom: He has come to
Aiath, says one; nay, says another, He has passed to
Migron, &c. And yet, perhaps, it was not altogether so bad
as common fame represented it. But we must watch against the fear,
not only of evil things, but of evil tidings, which often make
things worse than really they are, Ps.
cxii. 7. Or, (2.) To show what imminent danger Jerusalem
was in, when its enemies made so many bold advances towards it and
its friends could not make one bold stand to defend it. Note, The
more daring the church's enemies are, and the more dastardly those
are that should appear for her, the more will God be exalted in his
own strength, when, notwithstanding this, he works deliverance for
her.

3. How impotent his attempt upon Jerusalem
shall be: he shall remain at Nob, whence he may see Mount
Zion, and there he shall shake his hand against it,
v. 32. He shall
threaten it, and that shall be all; it shall be safe, and shall set
him at defiance. The daughter of Jerusalem, to be even with him,
shall shake her head at him, ch. xxxvii. 22.

4. How fatal it would prove, in the issue,
to himself. When he shakes his hand at Jerusalem, and is
about to lay hands on it, then is God's time to appear against him;
for Zion is the place of which God has said, This is my rest for
ever; therefore those who threaten it affront God himself. Then
the Lord shall lop the bough with terror and cut down the
thickets of the forest, v. 33, 34. (1.) The pride of the
enemy shall be humbled, the boughs that are lifted up on high shall
be lopped off, the high and stately trees shall be hewn down; that
is, the haughty shall be humbled. Those that lift up themselves in
competition with God or opposition to him shall be abased. (2.) The
power of the enemy shall be broken: The thickets of the forest
he shall cut down. When the Assyrian soldiers were under their
arms, and their spears erect, they looked like a forest, like
Lebanon; but, when in one night they all became as dead corpses,
the pikes were laid on the ground, and Lebanon was of a sudden cut
down by a mighty one, by the destroying angel, who in a
little time slew so many thousands of them: and, if this shall be
the exit of that proud invader, let not God's people be afraid of
him. Who art thou, that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that
shall die?